Tyrone Davis | |
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Davis, 1970.
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Background information | |
Birth name | Tyrone D. Fettson or Tyrone D. Branch |
Also known as | Tyrone the Wonder Boy |
Born |
Greenville, Mississippi, U.S. |
May 4, 1938
Origin | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Died | February 9, 2005 Hinsdale, Illinois, U.S. |
(aged 66)
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Instruments | Vocals |
Years active | 1968–2003 |
Labels | |
Associated acts |
Tyrone Davis (born Tyrone D. Fettson or Tyrone D. Branch, May 4, 1938 – February 9, 2005) was an American blues and soul singer with a long list of hit records over more than 20 years. Davis had three number 1 hits on the Billboard R&B chart: "Can I Change My Mind" (1968), "Turn Back The Hands Of Time" (1970), and "Turning Point" (1975).
Tyrone Fettson was born in Greenville, Mississippi to Willie Branch and Ora Lee Jones. Some sources give his date of birth as May 4, 1938, but researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc state that his funeral notice gives the October 1937 date.
He moved with his father to Saginaw, Michigan, before moving to Chicago in 1959. Working as a valet/chauffeur for blues singer Freddie King, he started singing in local clubs where he was discovered by record executive/musician Harold Burrage. His early records for small record labels in the city, billed as "Tyrone the Wonder Boy", failed to register. Successful Chicago record producer Carl Davis signed him in 1968 to a new label, Dakar Records that he was starting as part of a distribution deal with Atlantic, and suggested that he change his name and he borrowed Carl's last name Tyrone Davis.